Lithium-sulfur electrochemical cells typically include a sulfur-based electrode and a lithium-based electrode, which participate in an electrochemical reaction to produce electrical current. Generally, the lithium-sulfur electrochemical reactions are facilitated by an electrolyte, which can contain free ions and can behave as an ionically conductive medium.
One challenge associated with manufacturing sulfur-based electrodes for lithium-sulfur cells is imparting sufficient electrical conductivity to the electrode such that electrical current may be efficiently transported out of the sulfur-based electrode during the electrochemical operation of the cell. Many previous methods for fabricating sulfur-based electrodes have addressed this issue by adding an electrically conductive, carbon-based material—which has a substantially higher electrical conductivity than the electrode active sulfur-based material—to the electrode formulation. For example, many previous sulfur-based electrodes for lithium-sulfur electrochemical cells have been made by casting a suspension of a sulfur-based electrode active material, a carbon-based electrically conductive material, and a binder to form a layer that is subsequently dried to form the finished electrode. For a number of reasons, such electrodes can be challenging to incorporate into certain types of lithium-sulfur electrochemical cells. Accordingly, improved methods for fabricating sulfur-based electrodes are desired.